


Second Chances

by emilywritesfics



Series: Murphy has a kid [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Kid Fic, Single Dad!Murphy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-25 17:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4970704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilywritesfics/pseuds/emilywritesfics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"When Murphy's son, James, had been invited to a sleepover with one of his friends, the only thing that had gone through Murphy’s mind was “yes, I’ll finally get a good night’s sleep.” He realized that that was completely pathetic, and now that his son was actually at the sleepover, Murphy was at a bar."</p><p>---</p><p>When Murphy gets a rare night out, he meets Harper, and they hit it off. But when they figure out she already has a connection to his life, she calls off their date. Can Murphy get her to reconsider?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> My beta, [Nikki](http://abeautifulbroom.tumblr.com/), is an amazing person. This fic wouldn't be half as good without her, and I can't thank her enough for helping me.
> 
> Edit: I wrote this before we found out Harper's last name. I've changed it, but if you see any errors, please tell me so that I can fix them

When Murphy's son, James, had been invited to a sleepover with one of his friends, the only thing that had gone through Murphy’s mind was “yes, I’ll finally get a good night’s sleep.” He realized that that was completely pathetic, and now that his son was actually at the sleepover, Murphy was at a bar.

He hadn’t been out in months. Most nights he was asleep by eleven. It was a bit pitiful, but having an eight year old was tiring.

Murphy took a sip of his drink and surveyed the bar. Most of the people looked like they were barely legal. He wasn’t interested in any of them. They were too immature and loud. He wasn’t here to find a relationship, but he didn’t want to hook up with some boring bottle blonde in a sparkly mini skirt. He looked past them and towards the back of the bar where a girl who looked more his type was sitting.

She and her friends were talking animatedly and looking around the bar. She was cute. Her hair was a natural looking shade of brown, and her skirt didn’t look sparkly. What really drew him to her, though, was her smile. It looked kind and genuine, unlike most of the other people in the bar.

After a couple of minutes, Murphy managed to catch her eye. He smiled, and she smiled back. When she looked back at her friends, she whispered something to them, and glanced back at him. She blushed when she saw that he was still looking at her. Her friends said something to her, then her and the other friend left the table and walked towards the bathroom, leaving the cute girl alone.

Murphy took a big swig of his drink and walked over to her table.

“If you were a vegetable, you would be a cute-cumber,” He flirted, leaning on her table. So his flirting skills were a bit rusty, so what?

The girl laughed.

“Do you use that on all the girls?” she asked.

“Only the cute ones,” Murphy replied.

“I’m Harper,” She said, sticking her hand out.

“Murphy,” He said, taking her hand.

“You look familiar,” Harper said.

“I think I would remember meeting you,” Murphy said.

“I don’t know, there’s something about you, but I can’t place it.”

“Maybe you’ve seen me around here, I’m here every once in a while.”

“Could be,” Harper shrugged.

“Do you want another drink?” Murphy asked, noticing that her glass was almost empty.

“I’d love one,” Harper flirted.

They went over to the bar and he bought her an apple martini. She was sipping on it and flirting with Murphy when the song changed. Harper immediately lit up.

“How are your dance moves?” she asked.

“Pretty bad,” Murphy said, “but maybe you could help teach me.”

“That was smooth,” Harper said, taking Murphy’s hand and dragging him onto the dance floor.

He wrapped his arms around her, and she started grinding up against him.

They danced for a while, until Harper pulled Murphy down for a sloppy kiss. He kissed her back, and was reminded of just how long it had been since he had gotten laid.

* * *

 They ended up getting eachother off in the alley behind the bar. Murphy would have suggested that they use his car for more privacy, but he didn’t want to explain the carseat. After adjusting their clothes, they went back around the building.

“That was fun,” Murphy said when they were standing outside her car.

“You’re pretty good,” Harper said.

“Thanks,” Murphy smirked.

Harper’s friends stumbled out of the bar.

“They probably need my help,” Harper sighed, “bye Murphy,” She called over her shoulder.

“Bye,” He called back.

He turned and started walking towards his house. He was too drunk to drive, and it wasn't a very far walk. He could come back for the car before he went to pick up James.

Murphy has about half of the way home when he saw that Harper had put her number into her phone. Maybe he’d call her in a few days.

She seemed like nice person, and he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t interested in something more with her. He hadn’t been on a date in a long time. He’d given up on dating when James was around four. No one wanted to date a twenty-three year old with a kid. Maybe, now that both him and James were older, things would be different.

* * *

Of course, Murphy slept in the next day. When he looked at his clock, it was 10:30. He had to pick up James at 11.

“Shoot,” he muttered. He scrambled out of bed, took a quick shower, and hurried back to the bar to get his car.

Surprisingly, he was only ten minutes late. Murphy fixed his hair and made his way up to the front door.

“Hi John,” The kid’s mom, Cindy, said, answering the door. Murphy internally cringed; he hated when people used his first name.

“Hi,” he said, putting a smile on his face.

“Come in,” Cindy said, moving over, “I think Anthony and James are in the backyard. I’ll go get them.”

She left Murphy standing by the front door. He surveyed the house. It was the kind of house he would never be able to afford, and the decorations looked like the kinds his own mother had had. Murphy was sure that Anthony wasn’t an only child, but the house was big even for a family of four or five.

“Hi dad,” James smiled. He was carrying his bag and pillow, but set them down to put his shoes back on. Murphy picked up the bags.

“Did James behave?” He asked Cindy. James was a lot like Murphy had been as a kid in both looks and behaviour. Sometimes it seemed like the only people he listened to were Murphy, and his babysitter, Fox. Before the sleepover, when he had dropped James off at Fox’s house, Murphy had told him that if he didn’t behave, there would be no more staying over at his friend’s house. Hopefully that had worked.

“Oh, yeah, he was good,” Cindy said, “I didn’t really have to worry about them at all.”

“That’s good to hear,” Murphy said.

James finished putting his shoes on and stood up.

They said their goodbyes, and Murphy and James left. Murphy tossed the bags in the back, then got in the car.

“Did you have fun?” He asked James.

“Yeah. We played video games, and for breakfast Anthony’s mom made us pancakes, and,” James dove into telling Murphy all about the sleepover.

Murphy inputted the appropriate comments at the appropriate times.

“Anthony’s mom is really nice,” James said.

“She’s nice to me too,” Murphy said. It was true enough. She had never done anything that wasn’t nice, but when they had first met, Murphy had felt her judgement. A lot of people seemed to think that he couldn’t be a good dad because he was obviously young, and he ‘looked like a hooligan’ as Bellamy had once put it.

“Why don’t I have a mom?” James asked.

“You have a mom,” Murphy said, “you just don’t know her.”

“Why not?” James asked.

“I don’t know,” Murphy replied.

James couldn’t remember his mom. He had only been two when she left. Murphy hadn’t heard from her since. Whenever he asked about her, which wasn’t often, Murphy tried to tell him the truth, but there were a lot of questions he couldn’t answer.

* * *

The next day after work, Murphy was on his phone. James was in the living room watching tv.

Murphy was scrolling through his contacts when he saw Harper McIntyre. The last name looked familiar, but he brushed it off. He decided to text her.

 **Murphy:** Hey

 **Murphy:** This is Murphy, by the way

He looked at the time and put down his phone.

“James, it’s time to do your homework.”

“Miss M didn’t give any homework today.”

“She gives math homework every day.”

“I did it at Fox’s house.”

“I don’t believe you.” James never did homework at Fox’s house.

James grumbled and got up off of the couch. He grabbed his backpack and dragged it into the kitchen. He flopped onto a chair, and Murphy sat down beside him. James pulled out his binder and Murphy picked up his phone. There was a text from Harper.

 **Harper:** Cute guy from the bar, right?

Murphy grinned.

 **Murphy:** You think I’m cute?

James shoved a piece of paper at his dad.

“What’s this?” Murphy asked, picking it up. He hoped that James hadn’t gotten in trouble.

In past years, Murphy had met with James’ teacher more times than he liked. So far this year, James had been good. He hadn’t even met his teacher yet.

“Parent-teacher interviews,” James mumbled.

Murphy read it over. Apparently parent-teacher interviews were this week.

“Did you get this today?” Murphy asked.

James shook his head.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it.” The only time that would work was late on Thursday.

“That’s okay, I’m sure there’s nothing to say about me.”

“There’s always something to say about you,” Murphy said. He grabbed his phone and stood up, “keep doing your homework, I’m going to see if I can book an interview.”

He went into his room and opened his laptop. While he waited for it to load, he checked his phone.

 **Harper:** ;)

 **Murphy:** You’re pretty cute too. I think you’re skirt looked great.

He scrolled through the school website

 **Harper:** I thought you looked best without pants

 **Murphy:** Would you like to see me without pants again?

He followed the instructions to set up an interview with James’s teacher.

 **Harper:** I don’t sleep with a guy on the first date

 **Murphy:** I guess we’ll just have to go on a few dates. How does Friday sound?

 **Harper:** I can make that work

* * *

The next day, Murphy picked up James from Fox’s house.

“Hey James,” Murphy said, “how about you go get in the car. I’ll be right there, I just have to talk to Fox.”

“Okay,” James said.

Murphy watched him walk down the driveway and climb into the car. He turned back to Fox.

“Can James stay late on Thursday and Friday?” he asked. He knew it was short notice, and if she couldn’t, he could always ask Bellamy if him and Clarke could babysit.

“Why?” Fox asked.

“Parent-teacher interviews are on Thursday, and on Friday I, um, have a date,” Murphy admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Is it with the girl from the weekend?” Fox grinned.

“Yes,” Murphy sighed.

Murphy hadn’t told her about Harper, she had guessed when he had come to pick up James. She didn’t say anything in front of James, but as soon as he got home there was a text from Fox.

Murphy would consider Fox a good friend. She knew the most about his life since they saw each other every day of the week. So when he responded to her text, he told her everything.

“I can watch James,” Fox said.

“Thank you,” Murphy said.

“Do you want him to stay over?” Fox asked.

“Do you have a problem with me picking him up late?” Murphy asked.

“No, I was just thinking that maybe you might want to spend the night,” Fox insinuated.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Murphy said. He glanced over at his car, “I should go. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” Fox said.

* * *

On Thursday, Murphy hurried over to the school as soon as he got off of work. He arrived with a few minutes to spare.

Bellamy was hanging out by the office. He had interviews, but, as the gym teacher, no one ever wanted to see him.

“Hey Murphy,” Bellamy greeted when Murphy walked in.

“Hey.”

“You’re here to see James’ teacher?”

“Yeah, Miss M?”

“She’s right down this hall.” Bellamy started leading Murphy down a hallway. “She’s new this year, but a really great teacher as far as I can tell.”

“James seems to like her,” Murphy said, “well, as much as he likes any teacher.”

They stopped in front of a classroom. Murphy could hear talking from behind the closed door.

“I’m still his favourite teacher though,” Bellamy said.

“That’s because you teach gym,” Murphy said, “How’s Clarke?”

Bellamy and Clarke had a three week old daughter. Both Clarke and the baby had been doing good when Murphy had seen them.

“She’s good,” Bellamy said, “newborns are hard. I’m sure you can sympathise.”

“I wasn’t around much when James was a newborn,” Murphy admitted.

The talking from inside the classroom got louder until the door swung open and a couple stepped out.

“Have a nice day,” came a cheery voice that Murphy had heard before.

Murphy looked up to see who it was. She looked over at him, about to say something, but the words died on her lips.

It was Harper.

Everything clicked. He knew why her name had sounded familiar. Miss McIntyre; Miss M.

They stared at each other.

“I’m just going to go,” Bellamy said, looking between them. He turned and left.

Harper and Murphy stared at eacher for a few more seconds before Harper snapped out of it.

“Hello Mr. Murphy,” Harper smiled awkwardly, “If you’d just like come in and sit down, we can talk about how James has been doing.”

After the most awkward twenty minutes of Murphy’s life, the interview was over. Harper hadn’t said a word about the bar or about their date. She hadn’t acknowledged that she knew him at all other than not introducing herself at the beginning.

“Do you have any questions?” Harper asked, not meeting his eye.

“No,” Murphy said. He wanted to approach the subject of them, but he didn’t know how.

Harper walked him to the door. Murphy awkwardly nodded at her and was about to leave.

“Wait,” Harper started.

Murphy turned back.

“The date tomorrow, it can’t happen. I’m sorry. It’s just… I can’t be involved with parents the way we were involved.”

She retreated back into her classroom and closed the door before Murphy could respond.

In an elementary school, she can’t say what she means but Murphy heard her loud and clear. She can’t have sex with a parent of one of her students.

He stood in the hallway for a moment, holding onto the small hope that maybe she’ll reconsider and come back out, but she didn’t. He trudged out to the parking lot.

He had been looking forward to their date. Murphy was content with the way his life was, but that didn’t mean that sometimes he felt that maybe something was missing.

* * *

Murphy rang the doorbell to Fox’s house. Fox answered.

She took in his dejected demeanor.

“You can keep watching tv,” Fox called to James.

She ushered Murphy in.

“What’s wrong?” Fox asked.

“I don’t have a date anymore,” Murphy said quietly, kicking off his shoes.

“What?” Fox asked.

Murphy eyed James, who was sitting within earshot.

“Hi dad,” James called.

“Hey,” Murphy called, trying to sound normal.

Him and Fox went into the kitchen.

“What happened to your date?” Fox asked.

“Harper is James’s teacher,” Murphy said. He opened up Fox’s pantry and started rifling through.

“Wow,” Fox breathed.

“I got there,” Murphy said, grabbing a box of cookies, “and she didn't even acknowledge that we knew each other. I had the most awkward interview of my life, and then I was about to leave and said that she couldn’t date me because I’m a parent of one of her students.”

He shoved a cookie into his mouth.

“I’m sorry,” Fox consoled. She knew what the date had been to him.

Murphy just shrugged and ate another cookie.

“What did she say about James?” Fox asked.

“Nothing new,” Murphy said, “he has subpar grades and some behavioural issues. She did say that he seems eager to learn on most days.”

“Well that’s good,” Fox said. She grabbed herself a cookie.

“I’m not worried about him,” Murphy said, “he's just like I was, and the only thing I did wrong was have a kid at nineteen. But that’s a problem for another day.”

* * *

The next day, Murphy was feeling pretty down. He tried not to show it, but James must have been able to tell because he made Murphy play video games with him. It did cheer him up a bit.

He texted Harper a few times and told her that they could just be friends, but she didn’t respond.

After a week, he gave up.

* * *

It was late into November when Murphy received an email from Harper. It was to all of the parents of the kids in her class. He read through it.

She needed a parent volunteer to help chaperone a field trip that the class was going on to the local zoo. Murphy vaguely remembered signing a form for it for James.

He quickly checked his work schedule, and emailed her back, volunteering to chaperone.

Murphy didn't mind kids, but he would be lying if he said that he didn't volunteer because Harper was the teacher. He hoped that she wouldn't mind. If all Murphy did was help her chaperone, that was fine, but he also wanted to show her the real him.

He felt a bit weird going after her. It had been more than a month since they talked, and even then they had only known eachother for a week, but he really liked her.

He had gotten to know her when they were texting, and she had seemed genuinely nice and funny. On top of that, she liked kids. James was the most important aspect of Murphy's life and he always came first. At least if Harper liked kids, that was one thing Murphy didn't have to worry about.

Harper emailed him some forms for him to fill out.

* * *

By the day the fieldtrip rolled around, Murphy felt ready. He had asked for advice from Fox, Bellamy, Clarke, and Raven, a girl from work, who was friendly enough to him, and seemed like the type of person who might have good dating advice. They all thought he had a better chance if he didn't flirt too much. He was supposed to focus more on watching the kids than on Harper. That made sense. He was there to chaperone.

He got himself ready, dragged James out of bed, fed him breakfast, then hustled him into the car.

* * *

 When they got the school, Murphy parked in the visitor parking stall and followed James through the front door.

"Are we allowed in?" Murphy asked James. All of the other kids seemed to be waiting outside.

"Adults are allowed inside," James said, "and I'm going with you, so I am too."

Murphy wasn't sure if that was true, but he continued to follow.

James brought him to his shelf where he hung up his coat and switched his shoes, then they went into his classroom. James went straight in, but Murphy waited in the doorway.

"Hi Miss M," James greeted Harper, "this is my dad," he pointed at Murphy.

"Hi James," Harper responded. She looked up at Murphy with a tight smile, "hello Mr. Murphy." She stuck out her hand.

"Hi," Murphy smiled, shaking her hand.

"Thank you for volunteering," She glanced at the clock, "there's about a half hour until we leave, so you can stick around or," she trailed off.

"I think I'll stick around," Murphy said, "I don't have anything else to do."

"Sounds good," Harper said, "there's a chair over there," she pointed, "you can sit wherever you like."

She gave him a polite smile, then walked back to her desk.

Murphy picked up the chair she had pointed at.

"Come sit by me," James said

James happened to be sitting in the corner closest to Harper's desk. The logical side of him knew it was because James liked to cause trouble, and Harper could watch him best if he was close to her. The more emotional side of him didn't know how to feel. He had a great reason to sit and talk to her, but he still didn't want to freak her out.

Murphy set his chair down between James's desk and Harper's desk. Harper ignored him, choosing to continue to look at the paper's on her desk instead.

James pulled out his notebook and drew a tic tac toe board in the corner. Murphy played a couple rounds with him before he started a conversation with Harper.

"So, Har- Miss M," Murphy caught himself, "what made you decide to become a teacher?"

"I've always loved kids," Harper told him, "It seemed like the obvious choice for me. What do you do?"

"I'm a mechanic," Murphy said, drawing an X on the latest tic tac toe board, "I work at the garage on the north end."

"That sounds fun," Harper said.

"It pays the bills," He shrugged.

Harper didn't get the chance to respond, as the bell rang. Kids started shuffling in. All of them stared at Murphy, wondering who he was and why he was in their classroom. Harper walked to the front of the classroom and started taking attendance. Anthony, who sat down in the desk next to James, said hello to Murphy, then him and James started chatting. Once the second bell had rung and all of the kids seemed to be there, she introduced Murphy.

"This is James's dad, Mr. Murphy," She introduced, "he's going to be coming with us to the zoo today." She paused for a moment and looked up at the clock, "You can all go put on your coats and meet me at the front of the school."

* * *

Watching Harper throughout the morning, Murphy felt like Harper had been born to be a teacher. Her interactions with the children seemed much more natural than his did. All of the kids seemed to like her. When the students made a craft all of the kids showed theirs to her, and she gave every single kid a unique comment. James was the only one who showed Murphy his craft, and the only thing Murphy could think of saying was "nice."

Watching James was also interesting. He saw his mom in him, something that didn't happen often. Talking to the other kids seemed easy for James; it had never been easy for Murphy. On field trips, Murphy had always gotten into trouble, but, apart from a few stern looks, James didn't have to be told off. Though, that may have just been because Murphy was there. He wouldn't have done half of the things he had done if his dad had been present.

* * *

At lunch, Murphy ended up sandwiched between Anthony and Harper. James and three girls whose name tags read Emma, Brianna, and Kendall, were on the other side of the table.

They made conversation. Murphy asked Harper a few questions, but all of her answers were short, polite, and didn't reveal much.

They got onto the topic of birthdays.

"Mine's in July," Emma said, "on the 27th."

"Mine's September 31st," James said.

"When's yours, Miss M?" Kendall asked.

"May 3rd," Harper told them.

"How old are you going to be?" Anthony asked.

"I'll be 26 on my next birthday," Harper said.

"So you're 25 now?" Anthony asked.

"Yes," Harper confirmed.

"I'm 8," Emma told them.

There was a chorus of "me too" from the other kids at the table.

"How old are you?" Emma asked Murphy.

"27," Murphy told her.

"You're younger than my dad," Emma said.

"I'm younger than most dads," Murphy replied.

* * *

After lunch, Murphy and Harper walked together at the back of the group. One of the zookeepers was at the front, talking about the animals they were going past.

"How often does James see his mom?" Harper asked.

"He doesn't," Murphy said shortly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Harper said, blushing, "I didn't realize-"

"It's fine," Murphy said, "she left a long time ago. James doesn't even remember her. I haven't seen or heard from her since."

"That must be hard; being a single dad. I really don't think they get enough credit."

"It's not easy.”

They stopped at the elephant enclosure.

"You had him young, didn't you?" Harper asked quietly.

"I was 19. At the time, I thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen to me. Now, I can't imagine my life without him."

One of the students came up to them.

"Miss M, I have to go to the bathroom."

* * *

 They talked some more over the course of the afternoon. Harper didn't seem to be uncomfortable around him anymore. She laughed at the things he said, and told him more about herself. It went better than Murphy could have hoped.

* * *

 When they got back to school, they still had a while before the end of the day, so Harper let them go on the park. Her and Murphy sat together on one of the benches.

James played tag with some of the other kids until he decided that he wanted to do something else, and came over and sat between them.

“I don’t know if you’ve checked marks lately,” Harper said, “but James here,” she clapped a hand onto his shoulder, “has been getting better grades lately.”

“Really?” Murphy said. He looked down at James, “you never said anything.”

“It was going to be a surprise for you when you see my report card,” James told him.

“Well, you should be very proud,” Harper said, “I know he worked hard for them.”

“I’m always proud of him,” Murphy smiled. He looked back at James, “how about I wait until your report card comes out, so it’ll really be a surprise, then maybe we can get you ice cream or something.”

“Really?” James asked, wide eyed. Going out for ice cream was a rare luxury.

Anthony ran up.

“Wanna play grounders with us?” he asked James.

They both ran back to the park.

"You know," Harper started as they watched the students play, "I think I misjudged you at parent-teacher interviews."

"Hmm," Murphy said.

"I thought that, considering the way we met, you might not be the kind of guy I wanted to date, but I decided to give you a chance," Harper said, "then I found out that you have James, and I thought that you weren't the kind of guy I wanted to date. Not because of James," she quickly clarified, "Because I thought you were the kind of guy who only showed up to the interview because his ex girlfriend made him go, and that you didn't really care about James."

"What do you think of me now?" Murphy asked.

"You care about James, a lot," Harper said, "and the day we met was probably your one night off in a very long time. You're a very good dad, even if you don't think you are, and..." she hesitated for a moment. She looked down, and Murphy thought he saw her blushing, "and you are the kind of guy I want to date."

Murphy waited a moment to respond.

"Is that your way of asking me out?" He grinned.

"I guess it is," Harper said, letting out a laugh and looking up at him.

"Do fridays usually work for you?" Murphy asked.

Harper nodded.

"Well then, it's a date."

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this story. You can find me [here](belamygrifin.tumblr.com) :)


End file.
